tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35907807040336901392024-02-20T18:12:04.272-08:00DixiedriftingA walk on the PCTChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.comBlogger69125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3590780704033690139.post-33610774418855891862010-09-23T17:25:00.000-07:002010-09-23T17:53:42.896-07:00Timothy Gulch - Forest Road 8/20/10 27.6 milesWe got out at about 6:30am to push for a long day and try to make it to the post office tomorrow by 1:30pm, before it closed. WE passed Kiwi, Bacon and Meander as they were packing up from camp. They were again surprised to see us that early. We saw our first bear today as it came barreling down the hill, about 20 yards ahead of us. We continued on through a pass and on to climb a beautiful ridge. Saw another bear. What a day! We took lunch at a nice meadow with a huge rock in it. We still had 15 miles to go. We passed Paradise Lake, which it was, but the water tasted dirty. Came around a corner and heard a nice creek, then I heard something in the bushes. Another bear and a cub! We kept walking quietly and then they saw us! The cub ran up a tree, right next to the tree. We backed up slowly to avoid exciting the mama. We watched her for about 20 minutes, before the cub came back down the tree. They ran back into the bushes and we continued on. We couldn't believe and my heart was thumping! We sat down on a log to take a break later and heard something up in the tree. Bear #5 and he was just snorting and sniffing us, as he hung out in the tree. We decided to move on before we had our snack. We sat and ate on up the trail and two Sobo's sat down and talked with us, Jason and Kasandra. We traded North stories for South stories and continued on. We had 9 miles to go. It was going to be a long afternoon. We stopped to get water and then saw another bear rustling right before the trail. Total count today - 6! I promise that was the last one! We walked until dark and put on our headlamps, walking about 5 minutes later. We set up, had dinner, which I burned just a little, but it kind of tasted like fried chicken. We are tired after our longest and possibly most exciting day in the Marble Mountains!! -CMChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3590780704033690139.post-11691682970314775702010-09-23T17:09:00.000-07:002010-09-23T17:25:16.523-07:00Etna - Timothy Gulch 8/19/10 14 milesIt was completely wonderful to sleep in a real bed last night and to have gotten such a good night's rest. Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love my cozy sleeping bag, but I would take a bed over it any day! We started the morning with phone calls to family and some friends. Chris and I pounded an entire box of large doughnuts (8 large ones to be exact) for breakfast while laying in bed watching t.v. Ahhhh, I love it!! We checked out a little later than we had planned, but that was alright. Picked up some supplies, ate lunch and began our hitch out of the cute, picturesque town of Etna, at around 1pm. Our friends had waited about 2 hours for a ride out of town, but we got very lucky. We waited for about 14 minutes and Jimmy pulled up. It was about a 20 minute ride up to the top of the mountain and he talked to us about living in VA for a while and gave us some interesting facts about the area. He as a very nice, very laid back guy and we both loved talking to him. He dropped us off at the top and he gave me a fresh avocado that had been floating around in his truck. We began our walk and accepted the fact that we wouldn't be able o get our planned 20 miles in. with only about 6 hours of daylight left, we would just have to compensate over the next two days. We called and ordered some new shoes while on top of the mountain and receiving cell reception. We had a great dinner when we arrived at camp, cheese and crackers and some Mountain House lasagna with avocado mixed in. We may have just been really hungry, but our concoction tasted awesome! -KBChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3590780704033690139.post-59880991279751349442010-09-21T09:04:00.000-07:002010-09-21T09:23:37.964-07:00Etna 8/18/10 O milesWe started the morning by laying around in the tent for a while. It felt good to waste time and not worry about miles. We did our laundry and lots of math planning for the next month and the finish of our hike. We have less than a month left and only about 500 miles to go. We headed downtown to get our box and do some shopping, ate lunch at a nice little diner and had sandwiches and split a great chef salad. We ran into everyone there and talked a while. Dude and Trouble were taking off, don't know if we'll catch them again. We were hoping to go to the library for research and to update the blog, but they were closed, fortunately that meant we got to take a nice nap in our cozy hotel room, the best nap in a long time. We woke up to Kiwi knocking on the door to say that they were heading to the brewery for dinner. Sounded good, so we got ready and met them there. We started with 6 people at our table and had 9 by the time dinner was over. It was a really good time. Jean, the section hiker we had met the Day before picked up the tab for all of us! Wow, trail magic! We stopped by the store on the way back and grabbed him a thank you card and left it at his door. We had a couple more drinks and made phone calls at the room. -CMChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3590780704033690139.post-8102570865022486242010-09-21T08:34:00.001-07:002010-09-21T09:04:35.556-07:00Wafford Cabin Trail - Etna 8/17/10 26 milesWe actually were both wide awake this morning at 4:30am! With the fly off the tent, we were stunned with the intensity of the bright stars in the sky! We got out by 5:30am. It was a beautiful morning walk. The sun had just began to light up the horizon, but just on the mountains' edges. The mountian tops glowed with pinks and oranges, with the sky still dark and full of stars. Like nothing I had ever seen!! We walked for an hour and passed Kiwi, Meander and Bacon as they were just beginning to get started and out of their tents. We all laughed and they were shocked that we were going to early. We were usually the last ones to begin walking. We continued on and took a short break with snack after six miles. We walked on and were able to do 11 miles by 10am! Woohoo! At our next break, we met a section hiker, Jean, and talked with him for a while. He was the first person we had met who also shared our Virginia, so we had a lot to talk about. We walked past many cattle, black Angus with cowbells on. We heard the bells from a distance and did not know what to expect, especially when we're not used to hearing loud noised other than birds, wind and water. Chris actually thought it was techno music from a distance..hehe. The Trinity Alps wer eso beautiful, very remote and reminded of snow-less Sierras. They were very rocky and rugged and some peaks were mildly spotted with snow. Our Eric the Black guidebook showed that we would have minimal climbs today. Wrong! It was most definitely a day of climbing up and down and up again. We reached the trail head at the road at around 6pm. Shew, what a day! Fean, Kiwi, Bacon and Meander all arrived within minutes of us . We knew when we reached the road that it would be a difficult hitch. About three cars passed in an hour's time. They either waved or stopped and talked, but were unable to give us a ride due to their cars being packed and full or going in the opposite direction. Finally, a huge 15 passenger van pulled up. They hopped out and informed us that they were heading home to Etna after a day of rafting with their kids and would give us a ride. They already had 13 passengers though-10 very young children including one in a carseat and three adults, and a dog! They all laughed, shuffled around, and the six of us piled in with our huge packs in our laps! what a trip! They were such a nice family and had the CUTEST kids ever! They talked with us and then gave us a tour around the very small, Damascus-like town and then dropped us off at te Motel Etna. The mom (cannot remember her name,) told me that her kids had whispered to her, "Mom, can they come home with us and have dinner?" How cute! We all rolled out of the van. Chris and I stuck with the plan, saved our money and headed to the RV Park to camp, with intentions of staying in the motel tomorrow and taking a full zero! Talk about having some will power! It was hard not to just give in and sleep in a real bed. It was now about 8pm as we set up camp and showered. We both agreed that we felt like we were jet-lagged from being awake for so long and exerting so much energy walking. But, it was such a good day! Met some more amazing people and got into town! -KBChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3590780704033690139.post-56137725339137028582010-09-21T08:25:00.000-07:002010-09-21T08:34:04.268-07:00Bull Lake - Wafford Cabin Trail 8/16/10 26 milesStarted the morning with a great sunrise on the lake. We got out at about 7:30am and started with a nice gentle downhill to our first break at a nice spring. We continued winding around ridges until we approached Highway 3, the border of Klamath National Forest. We met Foghorn, a SOBO. Twelve miles by 12:30 and we decided to push another 4 miles up the hill to avoid a long afternoon. We ran into Kiwi, Bacon and Meander at the stream where we took lunch. It had been a while wince we had seen them, so we traded some stories. They had seen two mountain lions! We had Mountain House beef patties and potatoes for lunch. Pretty good! WE finished lunch at 4 pm and still had 10 miles to go. It was slow going. Kristi's feet were tired from walking over so many rocks on the trail. We finished our day on the beautiful ridge over a town with a nice sunset. Twenty-six miles into town tomorrow. We were excited to get to Etna and take much needed zero day. It has been almost one month since we had gotten a hotel room to totally relax. Hopefully we'll get an early start tomorrow morning!! -CMChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3590780704033690139.post-86041764266135268712010-09-21T08:15:00.000-07:002010-09-21T08:25:43.499-07:00Seven Lakes Ridge - Bul Lake 8/15/10 26 milesWe woke up to an amazing sunrise this morning on the ridge. The mountain tops were pastel shades of orange, pink and red. Good way to start the day. Weknew that we had a big day ahead of us so we got going. The morning was nice ande cool, which helped the walking. We again were mostly on ridges today and had some gorgeous views of Mt. Shasta. By lunchtime, we had walked 13 miles. We ate at Deadfall Lake, which was really nice, with a firepit adn lots of logs around to sit on. Some chipmunk spectators joined us, awaited any drops of crumbs. Some day hikers came by and chatted for a while adn excitingly asked many questions about our hike. They asked how long we'd been out and when we responded, "since June 15th," I myself was even surprised. It definitely doesn't seem that we've been out here two months today. We took a couple of nice breakes for the remaineder of the day and then headed down to the lake. There sat Trouble and Dude. They had intended on hiking two more miles and tstayed near some trees on the lake when it began to hail. We totally missed that! The sky had looked dark all day, and we had gotten sprinkled on, but no hail! It was good to catch up with them and hang out for a while. They are for sure some good folks. Nice, flat campsite tonight, right by the lake. -KBChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3590780704033690139.post-17118308329782667362010-09-21T08:08:00.000-07:002010-09-21T08:15:11.479-07:00Castle Crags - Seven Lakes Ridge 8/14/10 22 milesWoke up ready to go after a refreshing evening. We packed up and headed back down to the store for some breakfast burritos and to make some final calls. We headed out about 9am for the walk up the road to get back on the trail. Finally got to the trail at about 10:30am. It was already hot and we had a 4,000 foot climb ahead of us. We took our first break at a beautiful creek in a little canyon ,. We got to the climb and it was entirely in the sun. We climbed for what seemed like forever. We got to a spring that had some nice shade and we were so happy to drink some cold water. We met Palamino, a SOBO section hiker and shared some great conversation while we ate lunch. We headed back out and got some great views of the Castle Crags and Mt. Shasta as we walked the ridge. We sat up camp at about 7:30pm, just in time for sunset. The tent site was quite rocky and slanted, but was worth the great views after the hard climb. -CMChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3590780704033690139.post-50614262674061163172010-09-21T07:59:00.000-07:002010-09-21T08:08:34.909-07:00Logging Road - Castle Craggs Campground 8/13/10 16 milesWe thought we were getting up early when we started packing up around 7ish. Two hikers passed by and introduced themselves, Whifflechicken and Swiss Miss. The hike today consisted of a steep morning climb to warm us up, a nice shortcut to a logging road and a lot of downhill before we reached town. We arrived right at lunch time. We grabbed some burritos and drinks at the store and ate them under a tree as we hunk out with Dude, Trouble, El Presidente and Mr. Green. It was nice to relax and socialize without feeling rushed to get back on the trail. Went next door to pick up our box from Mary. Thank you! We loaded up our food and headed back to the "Chevron Tree" to hang out for a bit longer, with full intentions of walking a few more miles this evening. A few drinks later and a lot of laughs later, it was 7pm. Looks like we're going to stay at the campground next door. We stumbled to camp, took an amazing hot shower, and set up. Sleeping good tonight. -KBChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3590780704033690139.post-87662941262064178702010-09-13T15:02:00.001-07:002010-09-13T15:02:29.637-07:008/12/10We slept well in our makeshift camp in the middle of thee trail. We set out pretty early for a nice, roaded downhill stroll to the McCloud River. It was some of the prettiest blue water we've seen on the whole trip. Pictures do it no justice, we walked another couple of miles and had lunch before we started to climb. We pigged out trying to get rid of some of our food before we headed into town. It was a nice gentle climb and we took a long break at the top. We met "El Presidente" and he talked for a while with us. He said that he'd saw a huge mountain lion the night before. We headed down the mountain and Kristi said that she didn't feel so well. I think she had gotten a little dehydrated. Planned to camp at the river but there were no flat spots big enough. El Presidente said that he saw four bears on the way down the hill, we were only ten minutes behind him, so we were either lucky or not lucky, I don't know. Climbed a little ways up to the logging site and found a nice spot in the middle of some white pines. Had a good dinner of couscous and slept well knowing that town was not far away. -CMChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3590780704033690139.post-53999924978280429672010-09-13T14:48:00.000-07:002010-09-13T14:49:27.444-07:008/11/10It was nice to get up and get moving away from probably the least scenic and most unattractive campsite we've had yet. The mornings here are becoming much cooler and it took us a while to warm up this morning. We walked through a lot of brushy trail, dodging poison oak. Chris remained on poison oak patrol and pointed out each time he spotted it. We took a morning break with an outrageous view of Mt. Shasta in the distance. Clouds surrounded her peak and it most certainly didn't look real. I can't wait to get even closer. We stopped and took some crazy pictures of some dandelions, because they are as big as my fists and it's nearly impossible to blow off the seeds. Very unlike the small, fragile ones back home. We had lunch at Moosehead Springs, which we intended on being less than an hour, but was the full hour as usual. We ealked on ridges throughout the entire day, which continued to be taken over by much brush. I took my time and tried to save my legs from becoming more scratched up, as Chris smashed through it like a wild jungle man. We were nearly frightened to death as two jets soared just above the trees over us. Talk about loud and breathtaking! I came close to jumping in the bushes as I covered my head and ducked! I did a lot of thinking about the remainder of our hiking trip and plans afterwards. Listened to some music to pass some time, which really got me craving a live show! Chris cracked me up today as we passed a seedy pile of bear evidence as he said, "I would just love to watch a bear poop. You know it'd be funny because they probably poop like a dog.". Haha!! It was a good but long day! We hadn't came upon a camping spot in miles due to all of the ridgewalking, so we had to create our own. -KBChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3590780704033690139.post-85451896866106062152010-09-13T14:43:00.000-07:002010-09-13T14:44:15.772-07:008/10/10Woke up earlyish this morning after sleeping through the alarm. We packed up and filled up our water at the spigot (you know it's bad/good when campgrounds are civilized.). We stopped by the camp store and got some hot chocolate and postcards. We got started about 9am finally. Had an easy walk to an early lunch at another rock creek under the bridge. We did some math and more planning for the last leg of our adventure. We continued on oin some dense woods. It was overcast all day, which is very unusual. Usually not a cloud in the sky. We stopped at a huge powerline and there was a beautiful view. We met Sheepdog and Sandals, which were southbounding and making a "class of 2010" video. We didn't qualify since we are "section hikers", long story. It started to sprinkle, another surprise, but we continued a while longer through a lot of logged areas. Some clear cut and some selectively harvested. The trail was overgrown towards the end of the day and we ended up camping on a logger's loading site. It's not being used anymore, not the nicest piece of real estate, but it will do. Dinner in the tent and a late bedtime after a late start this morning. Burney Falls was definitely worth the detour. -CMChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3590780704033690139.post-77103805176703188152010-08-24T13:28:00.000-07:002010-08-24T13:38:12.522-07:00Water Cache - Rock Creek Spring 8/8/10 26 milesTwenty six miles to go over our first marathon. We got up earlyish, had some breakfast with Dude and Trouble and then started the day loaded up on water. Hat Creek Rim is a Plateau over a volcanic rock covered valley between Lassen Peak and Mt. Shasta. It is a really wierd geological place. The rim is at he edge of a cliff and at 45 degree angle. Lots of sand and tatally exposed with little shade and no water. Sounds fun right? We got about 6 miles and took a break in a smaill area of woods and then continued on to the next water cache. People bring water out in gallon jugs on the dry stretches. We got there about lunch. Dude and Trouble were already there and disappointed with no water. Twenty four water jugs and all empty. It was a nice shady spot and we had lunch there. Luckily I started with a gallon of water, so I still had two quarts left and twelve miles to go. WE crossed our 750 mile mark and our half way point. Exciting! We came down off the rim. It was still dry and we had to waqlk over ancient lava fields. It was wild! We ran out of water about 2 miles before camp, but the sun was low and the trees were funally giving shade, so we were okay. We finally got to camp about 7:30pm. Would have been earlier, but we took a nap at mile 18 under an awesome shade tree withthe craziest breeze. Camp was close to a hydro power plant and there was a huge water pipe that someone had drilled a hole in to make a sprinkler. It was heaven after a "dehydrated marathon" as Kristi put it. We had dinner and went to bed, suprisingly, not too terribly exhausted. -CMChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3590780704033690139.post-52753853175250314872010-08-24T13:18:00.000-07:002010-08-24T13:25:23.454-07:00The Heitman's - Hat creek Rim 8/7/10 7 milesVeggie came through the back yard this morning letting everyone know that breakfast was ready. That's a good way to wake up!! She and Warner Springs Monty had made a breakfast casserole, cinnamon rolls and my favorite- biscuits and REAL gravy!! He had promised last night he would make some since we were southerners in need of it! Total approval! Loved it!! We hung there until about lunchtime getting our laundry finisthed up, making phone calls home and using trhe internet. It was a fairly chlly morning. We thanked everyone for the awesome hospitality and caught a ride to the store from Dennis, the owner fo the house. He told us a littel history of he and Georgie and how they moved around for a while and later found the property and built their cabin. We bought some lunch at the store and of course had to have some ice cream to get us going. We then caught a ride to the trailhad by antoher very nice man and started walking. We checked out the "Subway Caves" that are huge caves formed by lava many years ago. It was pretty amazing. We decided to camp close to the water cache, since our 26mile stretch tomorrow has no water. Set up, hung out with Dude and Trouble for a bit and time for bed. -KBChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3590780704033690139.post-61001129597533933152010-08-24T13:11:00.000-07:002010-08-24T13:18:24.872-07:00Drakesbad Ranch - The Heitman's 8/6/10 23.6 milesWe woke up early with our bellies still full from lst night. The mornings are getting much cooler already. We had alittle climb in the morning and took a break after about 8 miles. I realized I had lost my Jade necklace from New Zealand. I was not happy. Hopefully it will come back to me. We had lunch after a very hot stretch. Had a nice view of Lassen park. Ten miles to go. Everyone was so excit4d about staying with the Heitman's. There was about 9 people including up when we got to the store where they picked up up. It was abot 5 pm and they said they would have dinner ready by 6pm. Perfect timing! It took a couple of rides to get everyone there. Sugar Mama took us las and we rolled up as everyone wqas eating. There was still plenty of food left. Lasagna, corn on the cob and bread pudding with whipped cream. A good dinner two nights in a row and it was nice. They had a great set up with an outdoor kitchen and garge with hiker supplies, shower, laundry, hiker camping with tents already set up and a treehouse with beds!! It doesn't get much better than this! Unfortunately the treehouse was already claimed. Kristi worked late getting the blog caught up and we finally went to bed at 11pm. Lat night for us. -CMChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3590780704033690139.post-58633075610724651042010-08-07T10:06:00.000-07:002010-08-07T10:16:34.066-07:00N. Fork Feather River - Drakesbad Ranch!! 8/5/10 9.4 milesAfter laying around in the tent with until about 8am (very late for us) we finally got out and hiking by 8;20am. The 9 mile walk to Drakesbad was moderately easy, but we were both so anxious to arrive, that it seemed to take a little longer. At the end of the hke, we were able to check out a hot spring lake that was bubbling, with steam surrounding it. Definitely a first! Rolled into Drakesbad Ranch right a lunchtime, the right time : ) This place was very historic. Several cabins for guests, a small store and a main dining cabin, and a hot springs pool area. The owner, Ed, was very welcoming as we followed the delicious lunchtime aroma into the dining area. I'm aware that we had to be smelly at this point. We had walked and sweated for about four days without showers. Ed shook Chris's hand and hugged me. As I resisted, stating that I may not smell great, he then laughing said with his German accent, "It's okay. I'm used to you all's smell." We had an all-you-can-eat lunch with Kiwi, Bacon and Meander, and then headed to the showers. What an amazing shower!! next stop-hot springs pool. We all hung out in the and by the pool for a while. The water was very therapeutic for a tired, achy, hiker body. It was soooo relaxing! We were all, ALL-SMILES, all day! As we sat around the pool, a few more hikers rolled in, Trouble, Dude, Frog and Curly. Chris and I hung out for a while and then to the front porch of the small store for a few cold ones. Dinner time arrived. We had turkey, REAL mashed potatoes, green beans, salad and fresh bread. It was delicious, but the portions were arranged all fancy, and a little small, especially when challenged against our raging appetites. Never fear, Ed is here! He informed us that there were a "few" leftovers and brought us huge family style bowls of everything! We ate even more this time around! Today was a good day! -KBChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3590780704033690139.post-46047571050198247572010-08-07T09:58:00.000-07:002010-08-07T10:06:02.422-07:00Carter Meadow - N. Fork Feather River 8/4/10 23.4 milesWoke up early and were out by 7am. We had a really pretty climb to a ridge with views of the foggy valley. We took our first break at the half way point of the trail and helped Kiwi, Bacon and Meander celebrate with a little whiskey at 9:30am. I promise this is not becoming a habit, haha. We walked some clean trail to an early lunch at Soldier Creek and then took a nice nap on the terraced campsite. Thirteen miles to go at 2pm. We had a long downhill to Rt. 36 where we found some trail magic from "Piper's Mom!" Sodas and chips! It definitely helped get us the last 9miles to camp. The last section was dry and kind of boring until we came around a corner and saw Lassen up close. We had been seeing it in the distance, but where we had been in the woods all day we hadn't realized how close we were getting. Came down the last mile to the Feather River and ran into Choc. Bandito going south. She had gotten bored so she hitched up and was going against the flow to see some old and new faces. She told us the scoop on Drakesbad Guest Ranch. We have been dreaming about it for a while. We were going there tomorrow for some showers and swimming and lots of food. Can't wait. -CMChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3590780704033690139.post-1507601464434489872010-08-07T09:47:00.000-07:002010-08-07T09:58:16.574-07:00Chip River - Carter Meadow 8/3/10 21.4 milesOur "Eric the Black" map seemed to lead us wrong several different times today. There were several jeep roads and water sources listed in there, that were apparently imaginary. Water was the issue today. We filled up before we left camp and again about 12 miles into the day. I filled up my bladder and Chris filled up his two 32 oz. bottles at a nice spigot spring, that was shooting out fresh, ice cold water. Since the map indicated that there were at least two more water sources before lunch, Chris dumped one bottle in order to lighten the load a bit. We walked in nice, shaded forests wit good climbs and then on bare, dusty desert-like terrain. We had lunch at a nice overlook, about 15 miles into the day. Since we had found no water on our way to lunch, we noticed on our map, that there was a creek off the trail. We left our packs up top and walked about 1/2 mile down a forest road, and then green blazed down the hill in hopes to locate the creek. We walked for a while and no creek to be found. After an hour wasted, we put our packs on with no other option but to go 6.5 MORE miles with no water. As we were leaving, Kiwi appeared. We talked with him, Meander and Bacon for a moment, complained of our waterless struggles and headed on. I have to admit, those miles with no water were rough for me. The combination of being already thirsty plus just the simple fact of knowing we had no water, made me dream of ice cold water, the entire walk. My mouth was so dry and Chris and kept talking about the bottle that he had dumped earlier, wishing we were chugging it. The map indicated that the terrain for this section would be flat. We knew better, due to being mislead by promising profiles before. We walked up and down until we reached water. It never tasted so good! Kiwi, Bacon and Meander neighbored us tonight. We had good dinner, good conversation and actually were in the tent before dark. -KBChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3590780704033690139.post-82364495967853706532010-08-07T09:39:00.000-07:002010-08-07T09:46:52.751-07:00Belden - Chip River 8/2/10 10 milesWe slept in a bit, waiting for the P.O. to open. Walked down the hill with Burley's owner and accidentally fell into a bar. Haha! 9:30am whiskey and beer. We talked to the nice bartender about their weekly music festivals and such. We got to the P.O., made some pone calls planning our departure from the trail, even though we still have a ways to go. Got our awesome box from Sarah, with SO much food to keep up going.The P.O. we were at was actually a house. The lady that ran it was hilarious, stuck in the 70's and definitely from CA. It was definitely the most eccentric place I'd ever been. We sat outside and sorted out our boxes. We finally got on the trail about 12:30pm and walked a couple of hours. It was soo hot! The section had been hit by a fire. We had a large snack/lunch with Stealth, Hmmm and others. We saw our first rattlesnake as it crawled out from under Stealth's tent. Wow. We packed up for another 5 mile to camp.l Saw another rattler and did a whole lot of climbing, 3500' in 10 miles and were still not at the top. had a nice dinner. Crunched some numbers for the next week's hiking. It was a fun, hard day. -CMChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3590780704033690139.post-4944493309038542262010-08-07T09:27:00.000-07:002010-08-07T09:39:22.093-07:00Buck's Lake - Bleden 8/1/10 23 milesIt felt so amazing to sleep in an actual bed last night at the Williams's, have a full belly of real food, have new shoes and most of all be refreshed by the company of such an extremely fantastic family that made us feel at home!We woke up this morning to a nice, hot breakfast of pancakes, bacon, eggs and deliciously locally grown, fresh, juicy peaches. And we though our stay with them couldn't get any better than last night! Chris, Picks Up Stones ad I ate and shared some laughs with Terry and Dennis. We began packing up and said our goodbyes to Picks Up Stones, as he left for his southbound adventures. I really enjoyed meeting him, such a sweet soul. He is 60 years old, and doesn't look a day over 45. One of the nicest, most genuine folks we've met on the trail. Time for us to go now. We were so thankful for everything the Williams's had done for us! There are wonderful people! Nancy drove us to the trailhead, we thanked her and went on our way. For our first few hours of walking, I continued to think about all of the hospitality that that family had shown us and they asked for nothing in return. That's what it's all about, just helping others out when you can. I have witnessed more of this while on the trail than I have seen in a very long time. Just like Bill and Margaret at the Red Moose, the Williams's kindness will positively impact all of us who stayed with them, and we will show the same to others. We had some beautiful views today, but saw the smoke of a forest fire in the distance for most of the day. It didn't seem to be slowing down. Many helicopters carrying water were in and out. We began our walk down into Belden, an endless section of switchbacks down the ridge. Chris was on poison oak patrol, as he pointed out every bit that he saw. We decided to camp at the bottom, at the equestrian camp, and we would get our resupply box from Sarah H. in the morning. As we got comfy and made dinner from the tent, a hiker with his companion, Burley the Donkey, walked up. No, that's not a trail name, it was a real donkey : ) This guy was hiking southbound with Burley and told us all about it. I got out of the tent and had to pet him! My next pet may now be a donkey! I fell in love. He was so gentle and calm! Box tomorrow!! -KBChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3590780704033690139.post-21901522846811277112010-08-07T09:18:00.000-07:002010-08-07T09:27:18.294-07:00Feather River - Buck's Lake 7/31/10 11 mileshad a good time last night and an even better morning. We slept in and talked to Chris and he said he would give us a ride to town. His truck was parked 1/4 mile up the trail. Yes, we cheated because we didn't walk to Buck's Lake, but I got to go four wheeling, which I'd been wanting to do for so long. It saved our sore Croc'ed feet and got us to our new shoes faster. We got to Buck's Lake, went by the store and got some refreshments and then headed to the Williams, the local trail angels. These folks were the greatest family we'd met yet! They gave us our new shoes that we had had mailed there. Sweet! The first question they asked was if we were hungry. Always. We had cheese burgers with fresh tomatoes and had some good company with their huge family. Nice cabin, free lunch and showers. We hopped on the computer for a wile and then it was dinner time. Pot roast, potatoes, carrots, squash, zucchini, garlic bread and topped of with homemade ice cream and strawberry cheesecake. I hurt myself eating as usual. We had some drinks by the fire after dinner with the family. They were farmers, so we swapped stories. I had to lay down and rest my belly. Kristi lost me and they were asking her where her husband was, haha. We got to sleep in a real bed with our bellies nice and full, dreaming of our new shoes. What a great family! -CMChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3590780704033690139.post-50192918083638380102010-08-07T09:09:00.000-07:002010-08-07T09:18:46.746-07:00Nelson Creek - Feather River 7/30/10 25.6 milesWe woke up to a rather chilly morning, therefore we took our time and built a fire to help get us going. We knew that we had a long day ahead of us, so we got started. Today really was an eventful day. The hiking itself wasn't difficult, although the section of the Plumas Forest that we walked through involved jumping over many hurdles, literally. There were hundreds of fallen trees still covering the trail. This slowed us down a bit and gave me a few nice scratches. Te majority of the day, we walked through flat, shaded forest, which was nice. The second half of the day, we crossed many forest roads on the trail and did a lot of uphill ridge walking. Te dirt on this section is very fine and seems to somehow end up on every inch of your body. We stopped and took several snack breaks today and consumed a good amount of junk food in order to keep us moving. At the end of the day, we were becoming really tired. Our feet were ready to retire the Crocs. I had now been walking in mine for about 60 miles and Chris had been walking in his for about 90 miles. Every now again we would shout out the number of miles it was until we arrived at Buck's Lake to get our new ones. So anxious to have happy feet again. We were almost to camp. We spotted the Feather River and walked over a nice bridge to get to our campsite. As we walked up the trial to camp, a huge dog began to bark There was guy, Chris, camping in one of the spots with his dog. He gladly welcomed us to come on down, and so did his dog. It felt great to wash off at the river. My feet and legs were filthy. We sat up camp and ate dinner while we talked to Chris. He and my Chris discussed good tips on how to get your foot in the door with the forest service, since this Chris currently worked for them. Moto, his dog, was very cute, but kept trying to hump my arm, so I had to distract him with a game of fetch..haha. Chris gave us some more good advice and we had some laughs with him. This is one of our best camping spots yet and the stars never shined so bright :) -KBChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3590780704033690139.post-86525402996762525272010-08-07T08:55:00.000-07:002010-08-07T09:09:09.106-07:00Sierra Buttes - Nelson Creek 7/29/10 21milesWe got a pretty good start to have drank a bottle of wine . We winded down the backside of the Buttes and enjoyed views of the beautiful fire tower at the top. We came to a gravel road and wondered around in circles for a while trying to find where the trail picked back up. A pile of cars pulled up and the man in the first car jumped out and asked if we needed anything. He was super nice. We told him that we had just gotten our resupply and that we were okay. We talked for a while and he told the group of hikers that he was leading, what we were doing. As we were leaving, he slipped us some cash. Wow, that's never happened. As we were leaving, Kristi laughed and asked me, "Do we look that bad?" We continued following the gravel road for a ways and then dropped back into the woods. The ridge was beautiful, overlooking 10's of beautiful blue lakes. We had lunch next to a pond and took a little snooze in the shade. WE woke up in the sun dripping with sweat and got on our way. My Crocs were holding up to the test, but my heel is still sliding out..? We took another break at the "A Tree" (long story), nice spring. A trail crew was working on the trail ahead and we passed them on the way up. The trail was dusty, wide and clear, with views of the Butte's fifteen miles away. We got cell signal at the top and Kristi called and checked on her mom. We headed down to camp on a nice creek. We got in early so we had a little fire with dinner. Pretty and pretty lucky day. -CMChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3590780704033690139.post-19008079727444630352010-08-07T08:40:00.001-07:002010-08-07T08:55:39.413-07:00Sierra City - Sierra Buttes Trail 7/28/10 7 milesWe slept in this morning (7am woo hoo) and it felt great! Did I mention that waking up clean felt great?! We got semi-packed up and headed into the restaurant for breakfast. There were several hikers sitting around the bar eating. Ahhh, the aroma of freshly cooked breakfast (other than oatmeal and pop tarts) smelled fantastic! We ordered eggs and bacon AND all-you-can-eat pancakes! So delicious! Margaret kept the pancakes coming until we were finished. On a nice full belly we finished up our laundry, made phone calls home and used the internet for quite some time- all compliments of Bill and Margaret. Chris called Sierra Trading Post and explained the problems with his shoes. They agreed to allow him to ship them back and reimburse him for them! He's really getting good at this stuff! First my pack and now free shoes! We then picked out some new ones for the both of us and he arranged to have them shipped to Buck's Lake, about 60 miles up the trail. We were thrilled to be getting new ones! My $35 TJ Maxx special Sauconey's held up well for the money, for almost 600 miles, but it was time to allow them to rest. We then picked up our AMAZING box from Kara and Don at the P.O. She had us all sorts of special goodies and even a CARTON of red wine and some brownies! We couldn't wait to break into this! We sorted through our food and had some extra, so we gave a few things to Bacon and Meander, since they were a little short. Next, we headed to the General Store before we headed out. We had heard about their enormous Deli Sandwiches and had to try them out. Before leaving, ice cream was a must. We sat out on the cozy, covered front porch surrounded by wild flowers, ate our pint of Cherry Garcia and chatted with an older local man. It was now about 3:30pm and time to get back to walking. We said our goodbyes to the hikers and Margaret at the Red Moose. She insisted on giving us a ride back up to the trail. We couldn't resist. This lady and her husband Bill are truly angels and we can't thank them enough for their hospitality and generosity. I hope to keep in touch with hem. Once again, I feel so blessed to be able to meet people like Bill and Margaret. Their gratitude towards us and others will certainly go a long way. The hike up the mountain was relatively steep, rocky and very sweaty. We were glad we waited until the evening to get started. We arrived at the top around 7:30pm, as we anxiously set up camp with hopes to get started on the wine : ) We watched a gorgeous sunset across the mountain range, with a bright orange shadow all across as it set. The best yet! The wine went down just right as we both had some good laughs over dinner. I feel so refreshed to have met some amazing people, relate with some fellow hiker friends and to have had some more good times and laughs. It doesn't get much better than this. I truly love this place. -KBChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3590780704033690139.post-68517085842041285292010-08-06T22:39:00.000-07:002010-08-06T22:52:36.416-07:00Meadow Lake - Sierra City 7/27/10 23 milesWoke up to everyone rolling out of camp. They were headed into town and were excited. We planned on camping close and going in tomorrow. IT was a pretty easy day. We ate lunch under a nice bride on the creek to avoid the sun. WE took a little snooze to let our food settle. My Crocs are doing alright as my temporary hiking shoes, but it sucks having to carry my real ones. Eleven miles to go. We crossed a road that lead to town and debated on hitching on in. No luck. We continued our walk, supposedly all downhill. It was a winding roller coaster, but still easy walking. We got to the 2 mile road shortcut to town at about 6pm and decided to go on in. It was a steep downhill on a gravel road to a campground. Nice campground. The burgers and beer being consumed only made us more ready for town. The road turned to pavement and went through a nice residential/vacation cabin area. It's fun to look at houses after not seeing any for five days. The walk seemed to take forever, but we coasted the hill and saw main street. Population 220! It was an old gold mining town! We ran into Walking Flower coming out as we were going in. She said the store had just closed, but there was a place called the Red Moose. Ribs, shower, laundry and a place to stay. We were so excited! WE rolled up to twelve stuffed thru hikers. We walked in and met Bill and Margaret, the owners. They were present day gold miners and had bought the building just six weeks earlier. it was half bar and half hotel with apartments upstairs. They had bought it to store their equipment in the giant basement. They planned to lease the bar out, but had no takers and decided to take car of hikers in their spare time. We ate all-you-can-eat ribs, beans, potatoes and carrots for $12, for the two of us. Free shower and laundry and we were able to camp in their back yard. Super nice couple. They would had given us the shirts of their backs and free run of their house, which they did. Thanks!! -CMChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3590780704033690139.post-72442680342278153902010-08-06T22:28:00.000-07:002010-08-06T22:38:24.883-07:00Rt. 40 - Meadow Lake 7/26/10 19 milesHitched a ride into "town" this morning since we were camped near the road. Breakfast at the small store a couple of miles from the trail as the pan. We waited for about 20 minutes and a really nice lady picked us up. She gave us her info and told us to give her a call when we get to Lassen if we needed anything. Her cute lap dog, Shasta, sat on me on the way there, which really made me miss my little Scout man. We arrived at eh store at about 8:30am. Kiwi, Bacon and Meander, were already sitting on the front porch, enjoying breakfast. Kiwi was downing some ice cream before his sausage biscuits. Chris and I both had sausage, egg, and cheese biscuits and some other snacks. I topped my breakfast off with two chocolate milks and a Guiness- a first but not a last : ) Chris's breakfast dessert was an early morning yuegar bomb. We hitched a quick ride back to the trail, by a cool fella in a huge SUV, who picked up the five of us. WE hiked with our friends for a while and they passed us up, as we were both having some show problems. The day as nice with some good climbs and pretty views. We arrived at our destination with a nice fire that Kiwi, Meander and Bacon had going to help shew away the mosquitoes. had some good talking and laughing with everyone and headed to bed. We were all woken up by a loud crashing through the forest, with sticks cracking and leaves crushing. Meander, Bacon and Chris and I all shined lights simultaneously from our tents in the direction of the disturbing noise, all with fear of a bear in mind. Big relief, just a deer!! Sigh : ) -KBChris and Kristihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17026007013761566162noreply@blogger.com0